More than half of Brits support transgender people self-identifying despite recent protests, survey finds
More than half of Brits are in favour of transgender people being able to self-identify despite protests from some anti-trans groups, according to a new poll.
The research, conducted by LGBT+ publication Pink News, found that out of 1,720 adults, 56 per cent of them support self-identification, fuelling hopes among campaigners that legislation allowing this will be included in the Gender Recognition Act, which the Government has vowed to reform.
Under current rules, transgender people are required to live in the gender they identify with for two years before they can transition.
They also must gain approval from a panel of medical professionals and acquire two medical reports to change their gender on their birth certificate, one of which must show a proven diagnosis of “gender dysphoria”, when a person feels distress due to a mismatch between their biological sex and gender identity.
In 2018, Theresa May pledged to look at the “bureaucratic and intrusive” hurdles people must overcome if they want to legally change their gender.
Under a new self-identification legislation, it would be much easier for transgender people to change genders, PinkNews says.
Commenting on the findings, PinkNews CEO Benjamin Cohen said: “More than two years since the prime minister made a groundbreaking pledge in favour of trans equality, it is clear that the public backs reforming the law to allow trans people to self-identify in order to receive a Gender Recognition Certificate.”
But the concept of self-identification has been criticised by some feminist groups, who expressed concern at the idea of transgender people being able to easily access single-sex spaces.
One of these spaces was the Hampstead Ladies Pond. In January 2018, regular visitors to the female-only pond protested that transgender women should not be permitted to swim there.
In May, transgender women’s rights to use the pond were formalised following a consultation conducted by the City of London Corporation, which canvassed pond users’ attitudes to gender identity and trans women's access to the space.
Similar to PinkNews' findings, the consultation had a similarly positive outcome, finding that 65 per cent of people felt that trans people should not suffer discrimination.
The publication's report, which was carried out by YouGov, also found that 59 per cent of Brits support the teaching of LGBT+ issues in schools, with just 23 per cent opposing this.
